Electrical pulses can be generated in a number of different ways and are used for a variety of purposes. Electrical pulses, for example, are used for testing purposes in different civilian and military applications. Typically, a high voltage pulse is developed in these arrangements and applied to a device or network under test. Thereafter, the results of the test can be analyzed and modifications/alterations can be made to the circuitry under test, based upon the test results.
Electromagnetic pulse generation typically involves tens of thousands of kilo volt transients injected into a test device or network with rise rates in the nanosecond to microsecond range, and pulse widths of hundreds of nanoseconds to milliseconds. In one example of an approach for generating pulses, a capacitor is charged to a set voltage and then discharged rapidly into a pulse forming network of inductors and resistors that shape the output pulse into the desired amplitude and wave form.
In some previous approaches, mechanical spring or actuator electrode switches discharged the energy stored in the capacitor into the pulse forming network by physically contacting the switch contacts with one another, much like a light switch, but at a much faster rate. Unfortunately, in air, the two contacts arced over short distances prior to the actual touching, thereby causing severe degradations in the rise rate of the pulse. These variations made previous mechanical switches unsuitable for high voltage pulse forming applications.
In other previous approaches, electromagnetic pulse generation systems used pressurized, non-contacting spark gap switches to generate fast rise rate pulses. Pressurized gas spark gaps can hold off the required voltage and, when triggered by a second high voltage sourced, ionize the insulating gas and create a plasma discharge channel through which the capacitor discharges into the pulse forming network generating an electromagnetic pulse. Unfortunately, previous pressurized spark gap switches operate in a very limited area of hold off voltages making these types of switches unsuitable for many applications.
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